BECOME a MAD CYBORG... Part Human, Part Dead Computers (UPDATED!!!)

About: I'm Mario Caicedo Langer, from Colombia, former Navy officer and BSc in Naval Sciences. Right now I'm Technical Director and Technology Lead Teacher at STEM - Engineering for Kids Azerbaijan. Also, I'm artis...
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M.C. Langer was an ordinary DIY artist until a bizarre accident (papercut printing an instructable) crippled him physically and mentally. Now, he had to rebuild his damaged body with dead computers pieces for the only target in his twisted mind: REVENGE AGAINST INSTRUCTABLES.COM!!

(What?? It was a big papercut. And It hurt so much. And the instructable was the Bacon Cheesecake Brownies recipe. I'm barely alive...)

If you want to join me in this insane quest, you will need your own cyborg attachments, so I will teach you how to make props of a mechanical arm (the clamp can be activated by spring action or motorized action, I will show both possibilities), a face plate (the eye lights) and the battle vest (the chest plate lights too).

And the best part? The props are made 90% of dead computers pieces. You will find here plastic cases of almost any kind of computer parts or accessories related with computers, PC and MAC. (Curiously, the only thing you will not find here is a mouse).

Step 1: A Lot of Useful and Important Blablabla Before Starting...

If you want to make a desk toy for your mom, your old computer is OK. But, if you want to build a big bad bionic armor, you will need all the computer pieces you can get. And you can find the good stuff and these places:

1. Junkyards 2. Computers technical service sites 3. Trash cans, specially when they are located in front of computers technical service sites and computers stores.

Try to always have an important amount of raw material (plastic junk, computer pieces, damaged toys) in your workshop. It will save you of travel for all de city looking for materials.

Starting every step, I will tell you what materials are equired for the prop. But remember: loose engineering. It's improbable you can make an identical prop, because you'll find different pieces than mine. For the same reason, I can't tell you exactly where to drill and put screws and nuts (and you will have to put a lot). So, use your creativity!

- Disassemble printers, speakers, scanners and everything assembled. - Drill and join plastic pieces using screws, nuts, metallic rings and angles. - Cut, drill, burnish and work the plastic pieces using the rotary tool. - Cut the spare parts of screws. - Mold, bend and melt the plastic using the heat gun. - Tear down plastic pieces using the pliers. - Stick foamy or another padded material at those prop sites in contact with your body. - Solder wires. - Use the instant glue to fix the nuts on the screws, specially in the screws than acts as axis.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS:

1. Always use personal protective equipment (goggles, dust mask, gloves and others), specially when you use rotary tools. 2. Work in an area with good ventilation 3. The things warmed by a heat gun or worked with a rotary tool could be very hot. Be careful when manipulate! 4. Getting computer pieces, don't dig deeply in public trash cans (only use the shallow pieces), and be careful when you dig in a junkyard. Use protective gloves. Don't use pieces found with hospitalary waste or in contact with another biological or chemical source of risk.

Well, as the great Tallahassee says, TIME TO NUT UP, OR SHUT UP!

Step 2: MECHANICAL ARM (option A: Spring Action)

- Damaged printer (the main piece of the arm) - Other printers pieces and cases - Three screen round bases (two with entries for the elbow, one perfectly round for the clamp base) - CPU frontal piece - Aluminum pipe - Five speakers (four for the clamp fingers, one for the base of the clamp) - Springs - Plastic handles (I use a plastic spool of thread and the handle of a toy shovel)

Attachments

Step 3: MECHANICAL ARM (option B: Motorized Action)

I think an instructable is not only to show the right way, but the wrong, too. The great Thomas Alva Edison said he had found 1000 ways of how not to make a bulb. It's funny (but very frustrating at the beginning) to find the wrong way.

Well; generally, the spring clamp is not a bad thing, but It was for this project. I start with the spring option because the feeling of grab the things, and the concept of "simple solutions are the best". And it's not a bad idea, but I forgot something: the total weight of the arm. It's very hard to lift a heavy arm and squeeze springs at the same time. Well... back to the workshop!

EXTRA MATERIALS:

- Electric screwdiver (it has all you need: reduction box, a good motor and a reversible switch. You only have to hack it and extend the wires). - Printers adaptator. - Joystick (it will be the new handle) - Metallic angles - Speaker (with battery box for 4 AA batteries) - Switch - Wires - Electric isolator - Plastic pieces

Step 6: Fully Armored!!! Now, Time to Paint And... REVENGE!!!

Before painting, I wanted to take some pictures, scare people and get fun.

I take pictures of the armour unpainted and painted. The choice is yours!!

Well... what are we waiting for??? LET'S GET DANGEROUS!!!!!!

Step 7: UPGRADE: New Mechanical Arm (Power Clamp 2.0)

I used an old printer for the arm, in the spirit of the Dead Computer Contest. But it was too heavy for the next target: Imaginna, the design fair in Bogotá. So, I modified it, using a PVC pipe instead of the printer, and creating a new control and a new handler. The clamp is still the same. Now, it's more versatile, more ergonomic, lighter and easy to carry.

And what about the Plasma Gun? Wait for my next instructable!!!!!

Step 8: UPGRADE 2: WEAPONS SYSTEM (And Halloween Fun!!)

For 2010 Hallween season I made a new arm, with machine gun, plasma blaster an missile launcher. How? I used my light gun:

Couse wile i was makeing it i mean that's not the worse part then wile I was making it onto when I lost my arm I was making it on the website when suddenly a instructibe robot came out of nowhere and eletecuted me I kinda had bad teachers that did not teach me words well.

This is how I became a cyborg I was making a instructible about how to make a horse get tame and be by your side but then his face and arm and body got bitten of and HE had to make a copy of m.c laners cyborg suit then he rebuilt his body and he is on only one thing on his mind GET REVENGE ON INSTRUTIBLES.com and become the apretes of m.c laners

Weird me wants to design an ocular 'outplant' that films in IR and projects this IR-lit image onto the eye when it's dark. All it'll need is an infrared TV camera (a cheapie CCD camera should do for the looks), an IR lamp and a tiny visible light B&W projector. I think for the looks that'll do. Or a transparent display that can become opaque when the wearer says so by flicking a switch.